Do Management and Law converge? The answer is yes. Management is about judicious utilization of resources through people in an organized setting. Law is concerned about deciding what is just and delivering justice based on what the judge thinks is just and equal.
The job of a manager is to ensure that proper management is practiced through judicious allocation of resources so that the organization’s objectives are achieved. However, it would not be possible to ensure effective management if the manager cannot do justice to the numerous stakeholders who directly or indirectly contribute to an organization’s success. A manager would do justice to the employees through an honest and objective appraisal and remunerating them on time, he would do justice to the shareholders by ensuring appreciation of their capital and through regular payment of dividends, he would do justice to the suppliers and creditors by paying their dues on time, he would do justice to the owner by running the business efficiently so that the cost of doing business is feasible. Finally, a manager is accountable to the society and justice can be done to it by practicing corporate social responsibility in letter and spirit.
A lawyer without an idea of management would not be an efficient and effective lawyer. How? Justice is meaningless if it is not delivered on time. Justice delayed is justice denied. Therefore, in order to ensure proper delivery of justice without delay, a lawyer should make intelligent application of resources through management. He should explore all possible avenues to settle his case within a given time frame without wasting time on trivial aspects.
The famous Chanakya taught the virtues of management and law. He believed that a true king was one who not only had excellent administrative and managerial acumen but could deliver justice to his subjects by upholding the virtues of dharma or righteousness. Moreover, some famous industrialists of our country like JRD Tata, Jamnalal Bajaj, Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayanamurthy, Ramnath Goenka, etc practiced good management through proper delivery of justice to the stakeholders. The success of a business organization depends not just on efficient management but also on how it succeeds in carrying business in an ethical manner.
Therefore, Management and Law are incomplete without each other. A successful manager or a lawyer is one who has a proper understanding of both management and law.
** Blog post contributed by:
Amit Kumar Dutta,
Assistant Professor of Management
Indian Institute of Legal Studies.
